Archive for the ‘Political’ Category

Todd Akin’s admittedly unclear words in his defense for no exceptions for abortion even in the case of rape or incest have stirred up such a controversy that it has sent many running for cover. The Truth is that Mr. Akin believes in the sanctity of life and agrees with the GOP’s own platform on life issues. So why is everyone all up in arms about his misspoken words?

It seems to me that what’s missing here is courage. It seems that those who are running for cover are more interested in their political careers than they are about standing up for their principles. If you are pro-life and believe that a human life (person) begins at conception then you should not be backing away from Todd Akin. He apologized for his poor choice of words. Life is life regardless of how conceived. Life should be protected, ALL LIFE. And ALL WOMEN should be honored and respected.

Being worried about winning or losing an election because people don’t like to hear the truth shows a poor lack of judgment. Speak the truth and God will bless you for it. As He said himself,

“Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” Matthew 5:10-12

Are we really more interested in winning a presidency than we are in winning heaven?

My good friend Ryan Bomberger, born as a result of rape, wrote a wonderful blog about his thoughts on this whole Akin situation. He points out, and rightly so, that “Despite the media’s predictable liberal advocacy of abortion (in all cases), what’s missing is the intriguing real outcome of the horrific act of rape and pregnancy that may result. Why do 50% of women who’ve been so violated choose to carry to term? Why do nearly 6% place their child (yes, not the “rapists’ child”) for adoption? Why do many choose to parent?

This is something worth better understanding from those who’ve experienced this trauma. As always, mainstream media treats people groups as monolithic without ever bothering to discover what people actually believe or do. They instinctively and gleefully paint pro-life support of children born of rape as “extreme” thereby attempting to silence any discussion.”

Many claim that the mother should not have to be reminded of the rape for the next nine months but let me tell you as someone who has known violence, a rape, or any act of violence, is not something that a woman forgets, pregnancy or not. And the memory is there for far more than nine months. And to suggest that by perpetrating another act of violence upon her will help her to forget the first violent act is ludicrous. Rape and abortion are both violent acts. A woman who gets pregnant as a result of rape is not going to forget that rape by having another violent act committed to her by aborting her child. In fact, abortion itself has been linked to causing many problems. If you try to solve a rape with an abortion what you would have is a woman who has to deal with the rape and the effects of the abortion.

There are many in America who would not vote for Todd Akin because of what he said but I would imagine that they were not going to vote for him anyway because of his stance on life issues. If you are pro-life then there is no reason why you should be calling for him to drop out of the race. In fact, you should be supporting him all the more for being courageous and speaking the truth. No abortion, no exceptions.

I posted a video on my blog the other day about a young woman who spoke the truth about life issues at a community meeting and how we should vote for God. Some attacked her for her views but she stood her ground. She stood for what she believed and didn’t back down just because some may have seen her view as extreme.

The movie COOURAGEOUS was released a year ago and it dealt with fatherhood. It spoke to the courage it takes to do the right thing to be a good father. At the end of the movie the main character speaks at a church talking about the courage it takes to be a father. In it he says, “Where are you men of courage?” I say to you today, “Where are you men of courage?” The unborn need courageous men to stand up for them and be their voices. Todd Akin is but one voice and good for him for not allowing others to silence his voice. I will be a voice for the unborn who cannot speak for themselves. WILL YOU?

STATEN ISLAND, NY – Sunday, Sept. 9 is the last of three “Voter Registration Sundays” organized and promoted by Priests for Life.

Fr. Frank Pavone, National Director, hopes all people of faith will take part by helping to register as many Americans as possible to vote in the fast-approaching elections.

“Assisting people to register to vote is one of the best ways to exercise our citizenship,” said Fr. Pavone.

“Non-partisan voter registration is both legal and appropriate for Churches to do, because it is a way to assist members of the congregation to exercise their faith in day-to-day life, and to take advantage of the freedom God gives us in this country.”

Visitors to www.priestsforlife.org/vote will find all the information and materials they will need to conduct a successful registration drive. Priests for Life has spearheaded this effort by forming the “Vote Pro-life Coalition,” in which dozens of national organizations pursue the same goals related to non-partisan political involvement.

“Voter registration drives fall within the activities that are permitted to tax-exempt organizations and churches,” said Father Pavone. “The IRS is not standing in our way, so there is no reason that Churches and non-profits shouldn’t be working hard to ensure a high voter turnout in November.”

“Let’s also keep in mind that voting actually starts in September, given the early voting that many states provide. So there’s no time to waste.”

Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

Priests for Life National Director Fr. Frank Pavone today issued the following statement on the abortion plank approved by the Republican Platform Committee.

“Priests for Life is grateful to those who have served on the platform committee for the Republican Party for reaffirming the truth that ‘the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.’ A declaration like this goes far beyond party politics and national boundaries. It affirms the very purpose of government and an essential condition of civilized society – a purpose and condition which, to our alarm, has been forgotten by some parties and public officials.

“After pointing to the essential principle of the right to life, the statement further points to concrete steps that can be taken now to more fully implement that principle. In particular, the issue of protecting children who feel pain is one that the public should consider. The Humane Slaughter Act protects animals from unnecessary pain. To do any less for children is not only a policy failure, but a basic failure to act as human beings.

“As we have done in past election cycles, Priests for Life will issue a non-partisan comparison of the party platforms once they are approved by their respective Conventions.”

Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit www.priestsforlife.org.

STATEN ISLAND, NY – Priests for Life, its National Director and the many ministries under its pro-life umbrella were saluted in the United States House of Representatives on Aug. 1. Six members of Congress spent 35 minutes speaking from the floor of Congress about the work of Priests for Life. As it normally does, C-Span broadcast the proceedings live.

Minnesota Congresswomen Michele Bachmann led the accolades, noting that Priests for Life is concluding the celebration of its 20th anniversary.

New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith, leader of the congressional pro-life caucus, said that for two decades he has been “moved, inspired and motivated to defend the weakest and most vulnerable among us by the remarkable life and pro-life witness of Father Frank Pavone,” whom, Mr. Smith noted, not only works to save unborn babies, but reaches out to women suffering after an abortion and even to abortionists themselves.

“This good priest sees not just the abortionist and their enablers committing violence against women and babies, but what might be if we genuinely care about their souls.”

Mr. Smith also noted the work of Janet Morana, Priests for Life’s executive director, and the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, which she co-founded to give women and men who have lost children to abortion a platform to tell the truth about their pain and healing.

Also speaking on the House floor during the session were Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Nebraska; Rep. Jean Schmidt of Ohio; Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, and Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan. Several others had indicated a desire to speak but there was not enough time in the 35 minutes allotted.

Mrs. Bachmann concluded the session with an explanation of the ministry:

“Priests for Life isn’t just for priests and it isn’t just for Catholics. The work of Priests for Life has enabled Americans of every walk of life, every ethnicity, every faith background, every political affiliation to awaken their consciences about the life issue, to speak up for the unborn… It’s very difficult to find any national initiative to the pro-life movement that either Father Frank Pavone or Priests for Life are somehow not deeply involved in.”

Mrs. Bachmann, noting her own commitment to pro-life work, said she is “extremely proud” to be affiliated with Priests for Life and Father Pavone. ‘I wish to thank Priests for Life for everything they continue to do protect and defend the sanctity of every human life.”

STATEN ISLAND, NY — For people who believe in the sanctity of all human life, Nov. 6, Election Day, will be the most important day of the year.

“With just 100 days to go, we all need to make sure we’re doing everything we can to encourage friends, family members, co-workers – everyone we know — to make plans to get out and vote,” said Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life.

Here’s a checklist of things everyone can do to ensure a high voter turnout.

I invite and encourage every American who values human life to please sign this open letter and encourage others to do the same. Just follow the link below and your letter will be delivered to the appropriate people.

Atlanta, GA – “The Supreme Court today voted against the American people. The Affordable Care Act tramples on our religious liberties and our conscience rights and it affects every American. When will we wake up and realize that we are being sold a bill of goods?

The system of checks and unbalance is doling out death care in the name of affordable care. Many of the goods and services included in the ACA are linked to breast cancer, strokes, heart attacks, and baby killing; and many Americas don’t even realize that we are in danger.

The “innocent bystanders” are either uninformed or misinformed. All the while, many of those elected to protect our rights are making deadly deals behind closed doors.

America, this isn’t about political parties, ethnic debates and which side are you on brothers and sisters. Across the isles and among the three branches, a terrible hand has been dealt. Right now, today, in the face of this terrible decision by the Supreme Court Justices, some are being duped into thinking that the upcoming elections are only at the presidential level. Nothing can be further from the truth.

The presidential election should not require all of our focus, as we must also work as hard as we can to salvage as many good people/causes down ballot as possible.

Our economy is suffering because a moral morass is eating away at our infrastructure. Homes, jobs, health, quality of life – all are being impeded and swallowed up by negative forces that are causing people to turn on each other rather than lifting a helping hand. Not only are babies in the wombs and marriages and families suffering; our pocketbooks, schools, neighborhoods and everything that matters are in danger.

Wake up America, the thief is at the door! But even though the Supreme Court voted against us, we are not without recourse. Americans get the final vote on November 6.”

Dr. Alveda King is Director of African American Outreach at Priests for Life, Founder of King for America and a guardian of the King Family Legacy inherited from her father, Rev. A. D. King, and her grandfather Dr. Martin Luther King, Sr. She is also the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

STATEN ISLAND, NY – Father Frank Pavone, National Director of Priests for Life, issued the following statement today following the U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

“The Supreme Court today officially declared that our current government pays no heed to the Constitution. Neither the President, nor Congress, nor the Supreme Court appears willing to protect life or liberty.

“If ever there were a time in history when the American people needed to be informed voters on Election Day, this is it.”

Priests for Life filed a lawsuit in February against the Health and Human Services mandate that all employers provide contraception to their employees free of charge. Legal experts have said the mandate has now been validated along with the entire law.

“Priests for Life will remain vigilant on the issue of contraception,” Father Pavone said. “The mandate is a brazen attack on our religious liberty. Today’s ruling on Obamacare was a setback, but it is not the end of the battle.”

Priests for Life is the nation’s largest Catholic pro-life organization dedicated to ending abortion and euthanasia. For more information, visit Priests for Life.

As we await the Supreme Court’s decision on Obamacare, a few things come to mind.

I was thinking about the various outcomes and the ramifications they will have. Will the Supreme Court strike down the whole law as unconstitutional leaving our healthcare system in dire need of some type of reform. Will they strike down only parts of the bill, and if so, what parts will they strike down. Will abortion funding still be a part of the bill that stands. And what if they decide that the law is constitutional as it stands, trampling on our religious liberties and our conscious rights.

Whatever the decision is, it will affect every American in one way or another. For me and the ministry that God has called me to, the main part of the bill that concerns me is the funding of abortion, the HHS mandate to provide insurance coverage of reproductive health services to all employees, and any part that infringes on my ability to exercise my conscience and first amendment rights.

I knew we were in trouble when Rep. Pelosi said, “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” To this day we are still finding out “what is in it” and most of it is not good.

LifeNews had an article that explained some of the provisions in the bill that, if not struck down completely, would still be of concern to pro-lifers and would continue funneling money to the abortion industry, taxpayer money and your own personal money through insurance regulations.

In another article written by Kristan Hawkins, Executive Director, Students for Life of America, talks of the pro-life generation and as Kristan writes, “.. Students for Life is here [Supreme Court steps], ready to go to make sure, that regardless of the outcome, our voice is heard. We want to be the first pro-lifers at the Supreme Court when this decision is announced to show the nation that this generation is pro-life, and we are ready for whatever the Supreme Court decides. Students for Life never stops, whether it’s mobilizing at the Supreme Court or starting and training over 720 pro-life groups on college campuses across the country. We’re there, every day at every hour, ensuring that the next generation is truly the pro-life generation.” It’s great to see the youth of our nations to be so energized and ready to stand up for the least among us.

As we wait for the decision, let’s continue to pray for the members of the Supreme Court and for the decision that this bill be struck down as unconstitutional. Let’s pray for the Obama administration, that they will start listening to the people of this country and stop trampling all over our rights. Let’s pray for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Let’s pray for equal protection for all Americans regardless of their developmental stage or size. Let’s pray for those that have had abortions or have participated in an abortion, that they will find healing, forgiveness, and repentance.

Our country has gone down a dark road for so long and our eyes have adjusted to the lack of light in this dark place that we find ourselves in that many can’t see the truth for the lack of light in their lives. In John 8:12 Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” We need to turn back to God and away from the darkness.

This interesting article came across my desk this week. Another prospective . . . FYI

By Todd Beamon

President Barack Obama is losing favor among many African-Americans because “the fact that you have a first black president is kind of wearing thin,” consultant Clarence V. McKee told Newsmax.TV in an exclusive interview.

“They’re realizing that because he’s got a black skin, that doesn’t do anything to help the green color of their money in their pockets,” McKee, a lawyer, government relations consultant, and president of McKee Communications Inc. in Coral Gables, Fla., said. “Blacks are realizing that the Messiah or ‘black Jesus,’ as David Axelrod called him — does not have necessarily a halo over his head to help them economically.

“You’ve got a 14 percent black unemployment rate, 12 percent Hispanic unemployment rate. If you get into the kids and the young people, it’s up to 50 percent. Net worth of blacks and the middle class is being destroyed, black business people being hurt.

“So the fact that you have a first black president is kind of wearing thin because it’s not so much that he was the first black president, the fact is that he’s black and a liberal. A black conservative gets clobbered by the black liberal establishment. Whether it’s Herman Cain, Condi Rice — and so it’s not that he’s just black, he’s a black liberal. We have a lot of opposition to that from the NAACP, who are trying to prop him up.”

McKee said Republicans should focus on issues and themes: “As George W. Bush had said, ‘the soft bigotry of low expectations.’ Nixon and Reagan all had a theme, whether it be family or whether it be neighborhood revitalization. Republicans — in the last eight, nine months — I haven’t heard a thing like that. They’ve got to key in on issues.”

While Mitt Romney has hired Tara Wall — a former journalist, Republican National Committee senior adviser, George W. Bush appointee to handle outreach to African-Americans — “You’ve got to let people know you care about them,” McKee said.

He cited an example from the Mississippi primaries in March: “Charles Evers, the brother of the slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, was so upset at how the Republican candidates did not pay any attention to the black vote that the last that I heard, he was going to resign from the Mississippi Republican Executive Committee.

“You cannot come in four weeks before a key election, say, ‘Blacks: Vote for me,’ when you haven’t been there in the last five to six years. So you’ve got to go in and show that you care about people. You have to ask for their vote and then have issues that relate to them.

“That’s the key thing, that they actually show an interest. But if you totally ignore people, they say, Why should we?”

The GOP must court African-American voters, McKee said.

“If the present situation continues — and by 2042 or 2050, the Census Bureau says we’re going to have a majority-minority country — and if the Republican Party continues to be a basically white party, and the Democratic Party continues to be a brown-and-black and female party, you’re getting very close to the old post-South Africa apartheid-type of black party, white party [system] — and that’s not good.

“You’re going to have a growing racialization of a political process. That’s not helpful for anybody.

“So the Republican Party has to get out and get black and brown votes. The Democratic Party, if it wants to survive, is going to have to get some white folks and white males — otherwise, you’re going to have these two parties drifting further and further apart. The growing racialization of the parties.”

But this wooing must be strategic, McKee said: “Generally speaking, if you look at the Southern primaries recently, the Republican black vote was no more than 3 percent . . . but in Alabama, Mississippi, you have the highest black populations — we were only getting 2 percent of the black vote.

“That shows that the Republican Party has a lot to do to get the black vote — and not just the black vote, black independents, and black Republicans.

“Don’t even try to go after the masses of black votes. If you look at the key elections when Republicans took the White House — Reagan, Reagan-Bush, George W., and Bush 41 — consistently, there was about 8½ to 11 percent black vote. Consistently. And about 31 percent Hispanic vote.

“Now, in this upcoming election, Republicans are going to have to get that lousy 4 to 5 percent vote they got up to 8 or 9 or 10 percent — and the Hispanic vote up to 30 percent.”

And, echoing former presidential candidate Cain, McKee said both parties are taking advantage of African-Americans.

“Blacks are the only voter group in this country that go to the political poker table,” McKee said, referring to elections. “And the dealer deals the cards. And what do the blacks do? ‘Here’s my hope card’ — therefore you know where they’re going to vote. Irish, women, Hispanics, you don’t know where they’re going. That’s why everyone is going for them.

“So the Republicans say: Why should I waste my money when they’re not going to vote for me anyway? I can put more resources elsewhere — and that’s what a lot of Republicans think. Democrats say, We don’t have to worry about those folks. They’re going to vote for us anyway.”

Citing such rising black Republicans as Fla. Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, Rep. Timothy Eugene “Tim” Scott in South Carolina, Fla. Rep. Allen B. West and Utah Mayor Mia Love — who is challenging longtime Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson — McKee sees a bigger role for African-Americans in the GOP’s future. He said: “What the problem is, if you look at television and you look at the newspapers, who do you see? Black democrats. The [Congressional] Black Caucus, the NAACP — all of these groups.

“The only voice that blacks are hearing, politically, are from black Democrats who now have a vested interest in the Democratic Party establishment. So they get black people’s votes and white liberal money to stay in office forever. They’re almost like federal judges: It’s a lifetime appointment, until you start getting some more conservative blacks running against them.

“But the Republican Party has to support Republican candidates. Interesting [as] this is, you don’t see any black-elected officials being elected by white democratic constituencies . . . We haven’t promoted ourselves enough.

“We have to groom candidates, so Allen’s a good example. And you know why he’s good? Because the black caucus and the liberals attack him constantly. They’re scared to death of black conservatives.”

McKee acknowledged that blacks are often criticized because they are Republican. He said, “I’m used to it. I know that.” This creates a “silent black majority,” he added.

“In New York City one time, somebody saw me on CSPAN . . . and he said, ‘I don’t agree with you, brother, but you really made some good points.’ I’m talking about a silent black majority. They’re not going to tell everybody, I’m voting for a Republican.

“But we just want them to go into the booth — whether they’re Democrat, independent or what — and vote. They’re not going to tell anybody. That’s why some of these exit polls are skewed; they’re kind of wrong.